Download 3 - Emancipation Proclamation

Objective: To examine the causes and effects of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Slavery: Lincoln’s Dilemma
· The Civil War began as a war to restore the Union, NOT to
end slavery.
“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union,
and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save
the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I
could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I
could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I
would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored
race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and
what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would
help to save the Union.” – Abraham Lincoln, in a letter to
Horace Greeley August 22, 1862
(left) Free and slave
states prior to the Civil
War.
(right) Confederate
and Union states
after the start of
the Civil War.
Union
Confederacy
Union Slave
States
· Lincoln was afraid that if he ended slavery, it would anger
the 4 proslavery states in the Union. (DE, MD, KY, and MO)
· Therefore, Lincoln decided to free enslaved African
Americans in the Confederate states only.
•Abolitionists pressured Lincoln
to free the slaves.
•After the Battle of Antietam, he
announced that the slaves would
be freed.
•Became effective on Jan. 1,
1863, in those states still in
rebellion (blech).
•Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in US
•Lincoln’s “first” step towards ending slavery.
•“Final step” 13th Amendment to the Constitution on Dec.
1865 would legally and constitutionally abolish slavery.
Emancipation Proclamation (Emancipate – to set free)
· On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation.
“On the 1st day of January, in the year of our
Lord 1863, all persons held as slaves within
any state or…part of a state (whose)
people…shall then be in rebellion against the
United States, shall be then, thenceforward,
and forever free.”
· Now the Union had two goals:
- restore the Union
- end slavery in Confederacy
•Freed all slaves
in states in
rebellion against
the US
•Did not apply to
slaves in border
states fighting
for US
•No affect on
southern areas
already under
US control.
War was now a war to
•abolish slavery
•destroy the South
• preserve the Union
• Kept Great Britain
from siding with
the South
and becoming an
ally.
First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of
President Lincoln by Francis Bicknell Carpenter
How would you feel about the Emancipation
Proclamation if you were…
(1) a slave owner from Texas?
(2) a slave owner from Missouri?
(3) an abolitionist from Massachusetts?
(4) a slave from Georgia?
(5) a slave from Maryland?
(6) Abraham Lincoln?
How would you feel about the Emancipation
Proclamation if you were…
(1) a slave owner from Texas?
“The slaves are free? Not in my state their not. Abraham
Lincoln isn’t my President anymore, so I don’t have to listen
to the Emancipation Proclamation. I only have to free my
slaves if the Confederates lose the war.”
(2) a slave owner from Missouri?
“I knew it was a good idea for us to stay in the Union! I get
to keep my slaves, just like the slave owners in Kentucky,
Maryland, and Delaware get to keep theirs.”
How would you feel about the Emancipation
Proclamation if you were…
(3) an abolitionist from Massachusetts?
“Hmmm…the Emancipation Proclamation is a good start,
but it doesn’t go far enough. Slavery should be ended in all
the states, not only the one’s in rebellion against the Union!”
(4) a slave from Georgia?
“Yahoo, I’m free!! Wait a minute, no I’m not. I have to stay
a slave until the Union wins the war!”
How would you feel about the Emancipation
Proclamation if you were…
(5) a slave from Maryland?
“Man, this stinks. How come the slaves from most of the
other states were freed but I have to remain a slave?”
(6) Abraham Lincoln?
“I wish that I could free the slaves in all of the states
immediately. However, if I free the slaves in the border
states, they may switch to the Confederacy, and I can’t allow
that to happen. Anyway, nobody is really free until we’re able
to defeat those Confederate rebels!”
Nast, Thomas. “Emancipation,” Harper’s Weekly, Jan. 24, 1863.
“Writing the Emancipation Proclamation” In this caricature an
inebriated Lincoln, surrounded by symbols of Satanism and paintings
honoring John Brown and slave rebellions, trod on the Constitution as
he drafted the proclamation.
•Over 200,000 freed slaves fought for the US…..
•Famous 54th Black Regiment of Massachusetts which
was organized by Frederick Douglass…..
Black Soldiers
• At the start of the war the union
army contained no black soldiers,
other than “contraband” (2 laws
passed during the war, the second
of which allowed for Africans
who left or were “captured” to
fight, as well as clean dishes –
slaves knew the war was about
them and ran away whenever
they could to Union soldiers, but
Lincoln gave them back up)
• After emancipating the slaves,
Lincoln enlisted them formally.
• By the end of the war nearly
200,000 blacks had served and
received 25 Congressional Medals
of Honor
• Death rates for black soldiers
were much higher than white
soldiers.
• Captured black soldiers were often executed
• The most famous black regiment was the 54th Mass.,
which was the subject of the movie Glory
• The South would finally try to use slaves in 1864/5,
offering them freedom, but it was much too late
African
Americans
in Civil War